Liv, the Published Author

That’s right, folks; I am about to be a published author. On April 20, a short humor piece I wrote will be published in the April edition of Defenestration, “A Literary Magazine Dedicated to Humor.”

It’s a silly little piece I wrote about an 11th grade classroom conducting icebreakers at the beginning of the year, but that doesn’t diminish the fact that for the first time ever, somebody wants to publish something I have written.

My first validation as a writer came back in first grade, when I used to write and illustrate stories to share with my teacher, and she gave me glowing reviews. Then, in fifth grade, I wrote a poem about a father who died on 9/11, and my teacher cried and asked me if it was a true story. (It was not, and I am also not sure what made a fifth grader want to dive into such a heavy topic.) Also in fifth grade, I won the essay contest on the topic of our time in intermediate school. I got to read it at our “moving up” ceremony. In seventh grade, I won an honorable mention for my essay written for a local revolutionary war organization, and in eighth grade, I won a poetry contest (and $300!) about the water cycle.

I’ve had some validation in my adult years, too. Throughout college and grad school, my short stories and novel excerpts received mostly positive reviews from my professors and fellow students. Especially when it comes to choosing a college major and a grad school concentration, it’s nice to know that you’re not completely kidding yourself. The feedback from my peers was a nice-to-have.

Now, the biggest writing project in my life is my novel, which is very slow moving. Because I have been seeing little progress on that front, I went in search of that validation that I needed to keep moving forward, in the form of a couple submissions to literary magazines. Defenestration was the first to get back to me, and I am ecstatic that it was good news.

When I decided to change my major from mechanical engineering to English back in my first year of college, I knew I was taking a big risk. I knew that my future would look very different, sure, but I was also opening myself up to a lot more uncertainty. In science and math, if you know how to approach a problem, there is usually one right answer. You get the answer, you get the grade, the validation. In writing, there is no correct answer; everything is extremely subjective. In fact, my college GPA went down after transitioning majors, because I no longer could study my way to right versus wrong. In engineering, the numbers validated me. Now, my validation is up to human beings, which is so much scarier.

And here I am, feeling a little validated but still bogged down by that uncertainty I signed up for my freshman year of college. What happens if I finish my novel and no agent wants to work with me? What happens if I get an agent but can’t get a publisher to bite? What if I never finish my novel? These are the questions that keep me up at night, but for now, I am reveling in the fact that one small bit of my writing has made someone happy.

I look forward to sharing “How to Break Ice” with the world when it is published this month. Until then, I will be plugging away on my novel and hoping that this writing thing isn’t a complete bust. Fingers crossed!